Viewport Beyond: A Glance Into Reality
by Wilhelm Gravens
Summary: Take a step into the office of a modern programmer, the tools of the trade gathered to provide an optimal workspace. What does it take to stay on the cutting edge when a team of experts is just a few milliseconds away and your office is just a blip on a digital map?


Talos was currently immersed in his workstation's desktop environment, a helmet covering his head and hands placed into gloves which monitored the position of his hands. The equipment was all wired into a heavy central housing which contained the system's motherboard and storage space. A redundant monitor screen was placed on the wall across from his chair, in the event the headware was not ideal.  
As it was he spent almost all of his time experiencing the three dimensional virtual office which was blasted onto the screen in his viewer. In the virtual reality constructed by his top of the line components he was located just by the beach, his software displayed as floating panes of neon-bright glass which due to the physics of the custom rendering engine were able to stay suspended in the air while still maintaining the look and feel of a giant piece of semi-transparent crystal.  
Out in the bay beyond the office's porch there were a series of maps represented in a framework of glowing lines of light against the clouds and sea flowing to the horizon. These maps gave Talos and his tools an overview of traffic conditions in the communication networks which he most often used in order to complete his work.  
There was also a map of the neighborhood where he was located in the real world, his frequent stops highlighted and labeled with click-able logos. His favored coffee bars, copy shops, libraries and computer repair shops all stood out from the map hovering over the water. In the event he needed to phone ahead he could easily select a logo and connect to his mobile account, forming a phone call and patching it into his helmet's headset components.  
Keeping up with the latest software suites and updates was almost a full-time job. He had a certain amount of the work scheduled to run the various legwork from scripts while he was sleeping. A calendar module allowed the information to be gathered in one place so that the top of the line hardware could be kept in sync with his cutting edge software. He could also connect with anyone on his list of technicians for a live session, reviewing the maintenance calendar and even sharing logs of the update procedures. This was needed to stay competitive, and keep him aware of the latest trends and developments.  
Beyond keeping the computing systems which powered his virtual office up to date, there was also a great deal of work to be done maintaining his network of business connections. He had several pieces of programming available to stay linked with his contacts. A handful of social networks could be accessed from a tool which gathered up to the minute data from the individual sites and compiled the items into an overview, special controls allowing for focus on certain topics and tags.  
There was also an elegant tool for managing email contacts, combining all of his in-boxes into one neatly organized station. Images, music, video clips and documents from the intense barrage of correspondences were shuffled into a three dimensional tray that popped up when the tool was being accessed. The model had controls along the edges for shuffling the documents around as well as focusing only on certain types of documents and performing searches. Thus he could swing his gloves in the air and the documents would buzz under his cursors, making his work fast and reducing time sinks like individually flipping through letter archives.  
Another invaluable addition to his high-tech workspace was the smart software agent which he had constructed using the guidance of a community of similar telecommuting programmers. This tool required that the user be reasonably educated in software programming but when properly configured allowed for a type of virtual secretary to appear in the user's workspace. It could be communicated with via speech, text chat and a custom 3d mini-desktop.  
The smart agent helped Talos to organize the project management and scheduling aspect of his work. It challenged him to think clearer, make forward thinking decisions and could also be called upon to provide schedule reminders and recommendations for use of time. The more he trained the software the more accurate it became when predicting what he might be accomplishing and who he might be working with to do so.  
It was also capable of providing study-session style dialogues when charged with the proper source material. It could act as a tutor and mentor, using it's language processing abilities to talk him through complex tasks or even simply chat about the programming or project management tasks at hand. Tools like this were used only by the hardcore programmers, as they required so much upkeep and maintenance. The software suite often broke down when new modules were merged into the main framework. However, the tool gave him an edge when challenging him to discuss his theories and work procedures. His gloved hand reached out for the virtual controls. 


End file.
